Bali

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BALI - PAGE 4

Terrorists targeted the Indonesian resort of Bali for the second time in three years Saturday with coordinated bombings that devastated restaurants packed with foreigners, killing at least 25 people and wounding at least 100. The blasts came a month after Indonesia's president warned of possible terrorist attacks. Two Americans were wounded. Saturday's near-simultaneous blasts at two seafood cafes on Jimbaran beach and a three-story noodle and steak restaurant in downtown Kuta occurred almost three years to the day after bombings blamed on Islamic militants killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, in Bali.

With the Bush administration refusing to commit to emissions reduction targets, negotiators trying to build a global action plan to stem climate change appeared to face a tough choice at key talks set to end Friday: Agree to a plan weak enough to win United States backing, try to embarrass the U.S. into compromising or simply move on, at least for now, without the world's biggest greenhouse gas producer. Former Vice President Al Gore, in a speech Thursday night, urged the delegates to set aside their frustrations and work around Bush administration objections, in hopes that a new U.S. administration to be elected next year would fill "the blank space" in the deal, due to be completed in 2009.

By Uli Schmetzer. Special to the Tribune. Tribune news services contributed to this account | October 14, 2002

Special Australian Air Force and Qantas airline flights evacuated hundreds of terrified tourists from the Indonesian vacation island of Bali late Sunday amid growing fears that Al Qaeda or one of its affiliates had brought its terror campaign to the world's largest Muslim country. The death toll from a car bombing outside a disco crowded with foreigners rose to 188, including two Americans. More bodies were believed still buried in the rubble. More than 300 people were injured, many of them Australians on holiday.

A new international climate treaty framework -- adopted at a conference in Bali on Saturday after a dramatic U.S. turnaround -- offers a little something for everyone. The United States, diplomatically isolated and worried about being blamed for the expected collapse of the talks on Saturday, was forced to join the world in agreeing that developing countries should be compensated for pushing ahead to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions, a major demand of developing economic giants such as China and India.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, the Islamic militant known as the "smiling bomber," was found guilty Thursday of mass murder and sentenced to die by firing squad for helping stage last year's Bali nightclub bombing. Amrozi, who says that dying as a martyr has been his ambition since childhood, smiled broadly on hearing his sentence, pumped his fist in the air and yelled, "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is greatest!" Then he turned toward cameras in the courtroom and held two thumbs up. The 41-year-old car mechanic, who bought the mini-van and explosives used in the Oct. 12 car bombing, is the first person in Indonesia to be convicted under a tough anti-terrorism law adopted after the blast.

OK, there's something we need to get straight right from the get-go: If all you're looking for is a beach, go to Florida. Or Jamaica. Or Baja. They're close. They have sand. They have sun. Bali's not close--not by a very long, long shot. How not close is it? Let's just say that when I left my hotel in Bali for the airport, my face was looking pretty sunburned. When I walked into work the day after I got back, everyone said, "Man, you really got a nice tan!" So, no, you don't want to go that far for just sun and sand.

Citing a "pattern of attacks" against U.S. and other Western targets, President Bush on Monday described the recent bombings, shootings and sabotage as evidence of a resurgence by the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Bush portrayed the new assaults in Indonesia, Kuwait and Yemen as an effort by Al Qaeda to recover from the U.S. military operation that disrupted the network's operations in Afghanistan, impairing its ability to coordinate and communicate with cells in other countries.

Bali memories CHICAGO--I wanted to just write a quick note and mention how impressed I was with [Phil Marty' story] about Bali ["Bali on a Shoestring"; March 28]. It was right on! I lived in Jakarta for about 12 years from 1978-1990 growing up as my father has been in the oil industry. It was the best experience of my life. We used to go to Bali for spring break during my high school years at Jakarta International School. In any case, your article made me miss what I consider to be "home."

Volcanic cooling: A decline of average global temperatures following volcanic eruptions. Global temperatures fell about one degree Fahrenheit in the few years following the eruptions of Krakatoa (between Sumatra and Java) in 1883 and Agung Volcano in Bali in 1963.